Inscribed
by haplesshippo
Summary: Every person has a soul mark, the first thing that one's soul mate ever says to him or her, a mark that someone out there in the world loves you. In which Mukuro's skin is blank except for the bloodstains covering it, and Tsuna's soul mark cuts at his heart every time he sees it. Oneshot.


A/N: I was feeling in an angsty mood. This is slightly different from my usual writing style in that it's more stream of consciousness than my other pieces. It's somewhat dark. I apologize for mistakes I might have made in this, but this was done at like 2 in the morning, so please forgive me. This is inspired by one of my favorite authors and the various pieces of soul mate fics out there.

Please read and review!

XxX

When Rokudo Mukuro is born, he bears two blue eyes and a few wisps of blue hair. His cries are loud, the innocent wailings of a newborn child, and his fists weakly clenched, waving and flailing like most infants' limbs are wont to do. For this child was not born a demon, a monster, nor a devil. No, this child is born like millions of others are. His skin is fresh as fallen snow, pure and unmarred.

And isn't that a problem within itself.

_Demon_, his mother says when her hands wander, looking for a soul mark on his skin. _Unloved and forever alone._

For humans are born into this world with words on their skin, words that the one human they are most strongly bonded to will first say to them. This marks their soul mate, pairs that will understand each other to the deepest depths, two people who will love one another until their dying day. They inevitably meet, and they inevitably form a relationship.

Sometimes, these bonds are platonic love, a sort of companionship that trumps all other relationships. Sometimes, these bonds are passionate love, burning like an inferno and raging until one passes on. Less often, these bonds become intense rivalries, fierce and rough competition that spans years and ends in failure and defeat. Some romantics view these words as red strings of fate. Others view them as shackles.

Whatever this bond is, for nobody quite understands them, it is commonly understood that it makes a being human. For every human who has ever existed bears a soul mark, and no animal has ever born one.

_Monster_, his mother says as she looks down at her child, eyes narrowed and fearful. Rokudo Mukuro has no soul mark, no words to mar his beautiful skin.

And so he is handed over to foreign hands, to be raised and trained to be a weapon, for this is the fate of a monster.

XxX

When Sawada Tsunayoshi is born, it is to a man's joyful tears and a mother's painful cries. Sawada Iemitsu is ecstatic, brown eyes shining and heart soaring. Nana is smiling despite the trial, limbs shaking but already asking to see her son, her darling, newborn son.

The child, however, is silent. His mouth is open in an imitation of a wail, but the only sound coming from his is the displacement of air. He is clearly breathing, and the fact that their child is mute is hardly a deterrent in the face of bringing one's child into this world, so he is wrapped in a blanket and given to his mother, who nuzzles her newborn affectionately and carefully searches his skin for his soul mark. A mother's curiosity about her child is often overwhelming, and protective maternal instincts never fail to rise when she first lays eyes on him. Thus, her inquisitive nature about the person her son will forever be bonded to is not unusual.

When her eyes see black marks, she grins uncontrollably, and her husband leans over her to catch a glimpse of the words.

Often, these words are insignificant.

_Hello, how are you today?_ some say. _Can I borrow a pencil? You look dazzling today, ma'am. Sir, I believe you dropped your wallet._

Other times, these words are more important. They may reveal what kind of person someone will grow to be, who his bonded is, what kind of occupation he will have when he reaches adulthood.

Iemitsu's mark says, _Thank you very much for helping me, sir. _Nana's is a reply, _Please call me Sawada Iemitsu_. She had spent years dreaming of the name inscribed on her wrist, curling around it delicately, and when she finally meets the man who is her intended, her smile brightens and she flings herself at the startled man.

Silence suddenly descends on the room.

Tsuna's mark curls around his ribs, scrawled in a beautiful script despite the horrible words. The words are written in beautiful calligraphy and shine black against red, fresh skin in the white hospital light.

_What a worthless, useless, weak boy_, Tsuna's mark says.

Nana's eyes tear up, for how could her son's soul mate _ever_ say such a thing to her darling boy? Iemitsu is frozen, heart breaking when he finally comprehends the words before he growls. He vows that he will never let this person who will utter such vile words to his son hurt him. For he may not be able to prevent their meeting, but he will keep his son from further harm.

XxX

Mukuro remembers isolation, pain, and suffering. He remembers asking _why, why me, where's my soul mate?_ but receives no answers from his jailers. They jeer cruelly, always laying their own soul marks bare as if to say_, See, look, I have one, but you? No, you will never have one. Nobody will ever care for you. Nobody will ever love you nobodywillcareforyounobody…_

Their taunts replay in his mind, and he grows asking _why, why, why_.

His doctors are curious, asking why as well. Is Mukuro not human? Why does he not have a soul mark? Is it just hidden, will it reveal itself with time?

When Mukuro reaches the tender age of five, he finally understands what his jailers are saying, what the scientists are asking. He is alone, unloved, and he forever will be. So he steels his heart, guards it with chains and glass, surrounds his personality with cutting wire and sharp knives.

His right eye throbs in pain occasionally, and when Mukuro catches a glimpse of himself, sometimes the eye flashes red. At night, he is assaulted with dreams, memories long past and tales of another time, another place, of fires and pain and _hell_. When he wakes, he is dragged for physical conditioning, for tests and injections.

He uses this pain to remind himself that he is a monster, and he tries to accept this fact. That, even if he was human before, now he no longer is, with sadistic amusement buried in his flesh and cold fury in his blood. He uses his first kill, a foolish man who sticks his hand into Mukuro's cell carelessly, to remind everyone else that nobody will love him, and that he will love nobody. He is a beast, his eyes say. Cruel, emotionless, _devil._

But it is hard for anyone, even a monster, to accept the fact that it will never be loved. And on nights where the cell's cold seeps into his bones, it is harder to stop imagining warmth, care, and comfort.

XxX

When Tsuna finally manages to read the words sprawled on his ribs for the first time in his life, he bursts out in tears. His father is away on business, so it is his mother who comforts him, hugs him and tells him, _Those words aren't true, Tsu-kun. You are brave, strong, and my little boy._

But sometimes, words that are uttered only occasionally by one's mother are harder to believe than words imprinted on one's skin. Tsuna sees these words every day and will see them for the rest of his life.

For even now, so young and so innocent, Tsuna is already clumsy. He isn't good at schoolwork, can't pay attention in class and makes blunders so stupid his classmates laugh at him. He can't even _speak. _Already, Tsuna has become Dame-Tsuna, useless Tsuna, weak, stupid Tsuna.

_What a worthless, useless, weak boy._

He has no friends, nobody who is willing to learn a language spoken with complicated hand symbols just for him. He's not worth the effort, for who goes out of their way to talk to the dumbest kid of the class?

So Tsuna grows up learning only how to talk to his mother, and he believes these words scrawled onto his ribs more and more each day.

_What a worthless, useless, weak boy._

XxX

Bathed in the blood of his family, Mukuro laughs, high and hysterical. His right eye is glowing red with a six imprinted into it. His other eye is manic, triumphant, for he finally became a _monster_.

He is finally what his jailers call him. He has killed them all, ruthless and cruel in his rampage. A trident is clutched in one hand, steel gleaming red like his eye, clothes sticking to his skin. His gaze is focused on the fallen bodies of the men who had taunted him for so long.

Behind him, his newly freed companions, one Joshima Ken and Kakimoto Chikusa, look at each other uncertainly. They have bonded to each other already despite their unfamiliarity with one another because, as it turns out, they are soul mates. _Who are you, byon?_ is inscribed on Chikusa's skin, and Ken has a matching, _Focus. _They're soul mates, and that stings, because these two boys easily found each other, so simple, they literally ran into each other, and here Mukuro is, the one who brought them together, and _he doesn't even have a soul mark. _These two boys trust each other unlike how they trust Mukuro, because why trust the boy without a soul mark? Why trust the boy without a heart?

It still hurts now. There's a knife carving into his heart, because shouldn't this kind of emotional pain _mean_ that he has a heart? That he deserves to have someone take care of him for once, that he should have someone to live for? But no, Mukuro is a monster, and monsters don't have hearts. He has no soul mark.

And so when he leaves the compound, Ken and Chikusa trailing behind him, Mukuro looks up to the lonely moon, breathes in the fresh air, and leaves the rest of his humanity behind.

XxX

Tsuna bears the kicks with a kind of familiarity that no boy his age should have. Hands roughly shove him into lockers, fingers grab his hair, and feet trip him down aisles. Pathetic Tsuna, weak Tsuna can't even protest, can't even say _stop, stop, pleasestopdoingthis_ because he's mute, and mute people don't get a say.

Dame-Tsuna.

Tsuna bears these physical hits and keeps bruises and cuts as souvenirs. He hides his injuries under scarves and coats to keep his mom from worrying, and he never even has to consider hiding anything from his dad, because the man is never around anyways, so why bother? Even his own father has abandoned useless Tsuna, Tsuna who can't even _talk_.

But worse than the physical injuries are the emotional ones. The ones when people catch sight of his ribs before he's changing for PE, when they snort and giggle and point and say, _Even his soul mate doesn't want him._

And it is every day that he lives with these words, every day that he dreads to hear these words come from someone's mouth, from the person to whom he's bound to, to hear these words every day. Aren't soul mates supposed to care for one another? Aren't they supposed to _care_? Because that's all Tsuna wants, is for someone to look at him and see worth, see someone worth saving, worth sticking up for.

But all he has are these words and the promise that the only person who could have cared for him will not. That even this person, this person will look at him and sneer, _What a worthless, useless, weak boy._

XxX

When Mukuro is safely ensconced in the foolish family that has taken him and his companions in, he finds that everybody is wary of him. The members of the famiglia that now protect them laugh and ruffle Ken's hair when he gets rowdy and huff fondly when Chikusa bears all of Ken's enthusiasm with stoic exasperation. They're bonded, they have soul marks, they understand the relationship between Ken and Chikusa.

Mukuro's skin, on the other hand, is splattered only in blood and death.

They don't see Mukuro and think, _This child will eventually have someone who will love him for what he's done, what he has sacrificed, what he has become_. No, they look at him and think, _There is no redemption for this monster_.

Mukuro is laughing when he kills this famiglia too, when he is taken to prison along with Lancia, Ken, and Chikusa. Lancia's soul mate died when Mukuro split her head on his trident, and Mukuro saw the devastation on Lancia's face.

_It's a good thing I don't have to suffer that kind of pain_, Mukuro thinks mercilessly and relishes in the anguish in the man's eyes. Finally, these people feel his suffering, feeling his years at the hands of jeering jailers and sadistic scientists and _feel his pain! _His glee drives him to kill more, to see more pain in others' eyes as their soul mates die before killing them as well, but he spares Lancia. Lancia opened his eyes to the advantages to not having a soul mark. Lancia will live as a reminder.

Ken and Chikusa are by his side, loyal to Mukuro but even more loyal to each other. Mukuro doesn't mind as long as they follow his orders.

When he's taken to prison along with his three subordinates, he flashes his teeth in a parody of a smile, Ken and Chikusa following along at a sedate pace, together, and Lancia dragging behind, eyes blank, from the loss of his famiglia, his soul mate, or mental freedom, Mukuro can't tell, but it doesn't matter, because he has found the power to take away other people's other half, and he's not giving up that power ever again.

He was born a monster, and the mafia brought out the potential in him. He's going to thank them by dying everything in their blood.

XxX

When a small baby arrives on Tsuna's doorstep, Tsuna is frightened, because there's a baby wielding a green gun that has no restraints in shooting him full of holes, and because Tsuna's useless, the baby will probably see no use in him and kill him.

Because when has anyone ever seen Tsuna as anything other than a waste of space?

Reborn regards the boy, beaten black and blue, a kind of pain that some adults don't even have in his eyes, and he curses Iemitsu, because he's read the boy's profile, read what his soul mark says, and living with those words as a child hurts. A young, impressionable kid needs support, constant love and care to face words like those imprinted on Tsuna's ribs with courage, and if Reborn can see what Tsuna has lived through, carelessness and cruelty that anyone would break under.

He introduces himself to Tsuna with his usual flair, but when he sees the poor kid quail under his playful mocking, the hitman begins to approach the kid like he would approach a frightened animal. A boss needs to grow confidence, and Reborn can see at this point that, to begin to even piece together something in this boy's mind other than, _What a worthless, useless, weak boy, _he can't use scare tactics.

Tsuna's damaged in a way that few are, and Reborn will help put those pieces together.

It is for this purpose that Reborn brings colorful characters into the boy's life, and he discovers so much about Sawada Tsunayoshi, so much that should have been smothered under careless children's feet but had somehow persevered. Gokudera Hayato, who had made fun of Tsuna before following him like a puppy, Yamamoto Takeshi, who looked to Tsuna like the smaller boy was the only reason the baseball obsessed teen was still living, which really isn't that far from the truth, Sasagawa Ryohei, who can see the inner strength in Tsuna that so few see, Lambo, who is drawn to Tsuna's silent support, and Hibari Kyoya, who somehow develops protective instincts for the small herbivore.

Yes, Reborn brings Tsuna's Guardians together because Sawada Tsunayoshi will be Vongola Decimo, but he brings them together because, even under his hardened shell of a heart, he feels his heart bleed for a child who might have a soul mate who will not care for him. He knows that even if a man has all the friends in the world, if his soul mate rejects him, that man will feel as if the world has abandoned him.

It is a surprise that Tsuna even has that kindness, like a fresh sprout in a burnt forest. It is this kindness and gentleness that brought his Guardians to him, and Reborn wonders what kind of man could be so blind as to miss it and see Tsuna's admittedly weak body. Underneath his fear of rejection and years of loneliness, underneath his inability to speak and his abysmal grades, there is a steeled determination that outshines most of his classmates.

Tsuna discovers that he does not necessarily need a soul mate to have friendship, and he learns to enjoy the company he already has.

For Tsuna will never have a soul mate who will want his company anyways.

XxX

When Mukuro breaks out of prison, several new acquaintances as well as Ken, Chikusa, and Lancia in tow, he heads towards some tiny city in Japan called Namimori. He learns Japanese easily and forces his companions to as well. Ken grumbles and groans but does no nonetheless while Chikusa merely reads through texts easily.

For some reason, Mukuro feels peace, or at least the most content he has ever felt. He has companions, no, subordinates at his back, loyal and willing to give their lives up for him, and he has a goal in mind. He will destroy the mafia, which had given birth to a monster, and he will make them pay for the pain he has endured.

He captures a small boy named Fuuta de la Stella and gets rankings for who the Vongola Decimo is. After some hits and misses, he finally identifies the boy and is immediately disgusted.

This? This is the Vongola Decimo? He's pathetic, small and young. He has been through none of the trials Mukuro has been through. He has people who love him since he has a soul mark, he has companions. He is mute, he is weak, and Mukuro will possess this mere child and use him to take down the rest of the Vongola. He can taste the sweet victory on his tongue.

When he first confronts Tsuna, he tells the young boy exactly what he thinks.

_What a worthless, useless, weak boy_, he sneers, and Tsuna flinches backwards, shocked and pained and hurt and Mukuro is surprised. Surely this boy has heard these words before, because Mukuro had looked into the boy's background and found that before Reborn came into his life, the boy had no friends. He was bullied and couldn't even stand up for himself. What makes Mukuro's words so special?

He sneers. At least this young child has words to mark his skin, has that someone to look forward to meeting. At least this boy will have someone who will always be there for him. Mukuro will have nothing.

He shrugs off his thoughts, disregards Tsuna's devastation and Reborn's sudden fury, and attacks head on.

XxX

When Tsuna hears those words, he is so hurt, so betrayed, because his soul mate is a criminal, his soul mate has blood on his hands, his soul mate wanted to kill Tsuna.

And yet, Tsuna still wants Mukuro's regard, still pines for him and yearns for Mukuro's approval. When he sees chains dragging his one and only away, he throws himself at the specters belonging to the Vindice, crying and begging with every fiber in his being to let his soul mate free. He gestures and, if he could scream, his shrieks would be filling the room. However, all there is is the sounds of scuffles and as he is held back by Hayato and Takeshi.

He sees genuine confusion in Mukuro's eyes and wants to ask, _Am I enough for you? Even if you think I'm a worthless, useless, weak boy, will you still look at me and love me? Please, that's all I ask. Stay with me. Pleasepleasepleaseplease._

But there's no answer as Mukuro and his companions are dragged away, only silence, and Tsuna wishes, if he could choose only one time in his life he could speak, he would do so now, to beg Mukuro to come back.

Because even if Mukuro though he was weak, at least the criminal thought he was worth killing, that he held importance. Hayato and Takeshi, they came to respect and follow Tsuna through Reborn's guidance, but Mukuro was the first to actually see Tsuna and decide, _Yes, this one, this one is worth killing._

And, as pathetic as it is, Tsuna wishes that he could have the criminal back at his side.

XxX

Mukuro finds a young girl named Nagi when he is locked in Vendicare Prison, and he finds a kindred soul in the girl. Ken and Chikusa have already broken out of prison, and Mukuro is locked in the deepest parts of the place, shackled and sedated and suffocated and it's nothing compared to his earliest years in life. He finds out that this girl, this Nagi's soul mark was around her right eye, which is now covered with an eye patch as a result of an injury. The mark is distorted, and none can read it. Nagi herself doesn't know what it is because her parents never bothered to tell her, and Mukuro can relate to her.

So he renames her Dokuro Chrome and forges a bond with her, and he thinks that this is probably the closest he will ever come to having a soul mate. This girl, who trusts Mukuro so much, who would give up mind and body to him, is what he would want if he ever could have a one and only. But alas, he does not, and pondering such dangerous thoughts may lead him spiraling into depression, so he desists entertaining these insidious ideas and works on building Chrome in his image.

He trains her and repairs her, and when he is approached to help Tsuna fight against Xanxus, he sends her out. He tells her about the young, vulnerable boy, tells her to look out for him, because Mukuro will need his body. Chrome listens and understands.

XxX

When Tsuna sees purple hair and trident, his breath catches, and his hands grab at Hayato, who immediately frets about his beloved boss.

But this young girl is not Mukuro, and Tsuna's heart drops in disappointment. Chrome catches sight of Tsuna and her heart clenches, because she understands suddenly, she sees because it's so _obvious_, how can nobody see it. She sees his heart broken face, sees that even with so many friends around him, so many friends who care for him, he still yearns for his soul mate, and so she leans up and kisses him.

When Mukuro replaces her body, Tsuna stumbles forwards, eyes drinking in the sight of Mukuro, his lithe body dancing is a swathe of indigo flames, calling forth animals in a rush of power and Tsuna understands why Mukuro would never want him. Such a magnificent man, someone with so much self-confidence, so much drive, would never want someone like Tsuna. He steps back and lowers his eyes and accepts this fact.

Mukuro will never see him as his equal.

XxX

Suddenly, there is no connection to Chrome. It is like she has disappeared into thin air, and it's disconcerting. His chess piece is gone, and now there are no more pawns to maneuver around the board. Where is Chrome?

For the first time since he was being experimented on as a child, Mukuro is alone again, and it feels like a crushing pressure. It's black everywhere, he can't open his eyes, there is only the liquid he is floating in and the buzz of sedatives in his system. There are no minds he can look out of, and he's, dare he say it, he's _scared_ like he hasn't been when he was in a cold, dark cell. It's horrible, and if he would never feel this again, it would be too soon. It hurts, it's cold, it's so lonely, _hurtcoldalonenumbalonealonealone_…

How long this lack of sense, this numb feeling lasts, he has no idea, but one day, after one hour, three years, some time because Mukuro cannot track time, there is a spark, a relieved yell of _Mukuro-sama!_, and a steady heartbeat, a flame that he never knew he'd had in his heart and one that he'd never known had disappeared, reappeared in his chest, and suddenly, he was not alone again.

Weak, Mukuro sneered at himself, weak for needing something like comfort, for being debilitated when Chrome disappeared and apparently every other Guardian if the girl's account of the future holds truth, but he can't stop the relief that overflows when he can confirm with his own mind that Chrome is back, that the Vongola Decimo is safe, that his plan to take over the boy's body is still in place.

Yes, Mukuro still has a purpose in life, and until that purpose is gone, he will not die.

XxX

When Tsuna catches sight of an adult Mukuro, the man's eyes widen slightly, and an unreadable expression overcomes his face. Tsuna is frozen, unable to make gestures to the man, before there is a warm body enveloping him, arms around his waist and a face in his hair, breathing in his scent like Mukuro can bury himself in it. The body is firm, and Tsuna trembles, unsure what to do, because this man is Mukuro, who thinks Tsuna is _a worthless, useless, weak boy_, but this Mukuro is also clutching at Tsuna like a lifeline. This Mukuro has his fingers buried in Tsuna's clothes, and…

And it feels wonderful. It feels like another puzzle piece is slotting into all of his jagged and rough edges, and he's finally coming home, home to something that aren't jeers and insults but rather affection and love, fondness and warmth. It makes Tsuna cry, and he grabs onto the older Mukuro, sheds so many tears that he'd never shed before, tears of relief and happiness and joy, and he clutches back at the older man.

There are murmurs of _it's alright, I have you, don't leave me again Tsunayoshi_ against his head, and Tsuna forgets that he's fighting a deranged man whose soul mark belongs to someone in a whole other universe, which is tragic because at least Mukuro belongs to this universe, _his_ Mukuro is in this world while Byakuran's doesn't even exist on this plane. He's grateful, and when Mukuro draws backwards, it's too soon.

When Tsuna is thrown back into the past, he's hit with despair, because while the future Mukuro could see Tsuna as his soul mate, this Mukuro, full of his condescension and lack of regard of Tsuna, will never see Tsuna as the other half of his being. He's lost the Mukuro that could understand him and gained a Mukuro who does not.

But there is a flare of hope in his chest, because if future Mukuro loves future Tsuna, then this Mukuro might come to love Tsuna as well. It is here and now, while he is standing in the spot where he was transported back to, he decides that he will become strong, become a person that Mukuro will see and say, _Yes, this is my bond mate, this is the man that I love._

For the first time in his life, Tsuna feels a fierce hope that he could have a chance of a happily ever after.

XxX

When Chrome gives her memories to Mukuro, he is surprised at the willpower that Tsuna displays. Seeing Tsuna incinerate a man is strange, because Mukuro has always seen Tsuna as a weak animal, small and delicate and useless, but now he can't say that. Tsuna has grown when Mukuro wasn't looking.

It's fascinating, and something fills Mukuro, a rush of emotions, but no, not emotions, he has no emotions. But this being, Sawada Tsunayoshi, has become fascinating in a way the Mukuro has not found anything to be fascinating. There is a willpower that Mukuro can grudgingly admire.

When he discovers the clash between the Vongola famiglia and the Simon famiglia, he hurries to Chrome's aid. He doesn't do it to ensure Tsuna's safety, and he doesn't do it to see Tsuna with his own eyes. He doesn't feel his chest tighten when he sees Tsuna flying through the air, dodging Daemon Spade's attacks, doesn't admire Tsuna's morals when the boy refuses to shoot while Enma is holding Spade captive.

He doesn't trust Tsuna when he flies through the air to protect Chrome and Enma from Tsuna's flames, doesn't gaze into those determined golden eyes that are like the first rays of the sun, warming Mukuro's feathers.

Mukuro was always a good liar, but never decent enough to fool himself, and he realizes,_ I love this man._

And suddenly, everything makes so much sense.

Because Tsuna is _mute_, he can't _talk_, of course there wouldn't be a bond mark on Mukuro. Of course Mukuro would have bare skin, ironically clean despite the blood staining it, and Mukuro is elated, ecstatic, because there's this warmth from Tsuna that he's never felt before.

XxX

Tsuna's breath catches in his throat when he sees a white owl with heterochromatic eyes reinforcing Chrome's shield. He looks at those determined eyes, sees the trust and caring and fierce loyalty, and he fires the XX Burner at Daemon Spade, trusting Mukuro to protect Chrome and Enma.

When he falls to the ground, exhausted, he sees Mukuro also fall, a blur of white feathers. The Mist Guardian is exhausted, because he has risked his life to protect, risked his life and trusted Tsuna to destroy what he had set out to destroy. It's a wonderful, glorious moment for Tsuna, because Mukuro looks up to Tsuna, and there's approval in his eyes, respect and acknowledgement.

But then Daemon Spade rises again, and Tsuna shouts _no, no, no_ in his head because it didn't work, Mukuro's sacrifice was in vain. The two fight again, and when Spade is defeated for the second and final time, it is to hear a tragic tale.

Spade's love, his soul mate, was killed, and Tsuna could see the despair that the death of a soul bond created. He saw that hopelessness, the grief and terror when his love's life slipped between his very hands, and Tsuna cried. He imagined that Elena was Mukuro, and he felt his heart tear into small pieces.

He glances over at Mukuro, who is exhausted and his own body, and Tsuna moves to apologize, hands signing things Mukuro shouldn't understand but does anyways.

_Kufufu, why are you apologizing?_ Mukuro asked, amused but drained. _When it comes to me, I've gained much more than I've lost…_

Mukuro reaches out a hand, slowly, and places it against Tsuna's face before inhaling. Warmth unfurls in Tsuna's chest, and giddiness fills his heart. The mark against his ribs _burns, _as if to remind him that it's there, and Tsuna acknowledges it. He acknowledges that he's grown as a person, as a man, and that it is a result of this mark. He revels in the burn because it means that his soul mate loves him back. He grabs the hand, his own hands trembling, before crying tears of happiness, because _finally_.

XxX

Mukuro hasn't felt like this in his life. He should try to reject the bond, should try to be angry. He realizes that he's abandoning all of his goals to use Tsuna as a tool, to never heed his emotions, but Mukuro is just so _tired_. He's tired of denying what he's always yearned for, tired of running, tired of dwelling in the past. He wants Tsuna, and by what he can find in Tsuna's expression, the younger boy also wants him.

It's nice, to feel wanted. To feel loved.

When Mukuro fights against Tsuna during the Representative Battle of the Arcobaleno, it feels wrong, instinctively wrong to fight against Tsuna, but when he's protecting Tsuna, fighting alongside of him, first against the covered Vindice and then against Jager, it feels _right_. This is where he belongs, beside Tsuna, protecting Tsuna.

He pins Jager, limits his movement, so Tsuna can get a clean hit in before collapsing, but he's helped Tsuna, and that is all he wants right now. He passes out, content, to Tsuna's determined gaze and piercing eyes, and that warm, warm heat.

After all is over and done with, and Mukuro is sitting in a hospital bed eating chocolate shaved ice, he sits and ponders all that he's been through.

The path had been shitty, Mukuro thinks before chuckling, but the outcome. Oh, the outcome was glorious.

XxX

Mukuro stands in front of Tsuna, brown eyes meeting red and blue. Mukuro's heart soars, because he has a bond mate, _he has a bond mate_, he has someone who belongs with him. He has someone who loves him despite the fact that Mukuro is a monster, that he has no mark.

And Tsuna, Tsuna clasps Mukuro's hand, because here is acceptance, someone who will understand his pain, his loneliness, and his hope and dreams, his aspirations and everything that Tsuna has ever wanted. Here is someone who will love Tsuna unconditionally, and even if Mukuro is a monster, Tsuna is a failure, and they will have each other.

_They have each other._

XxX

A/N: Holy crap you don't understand at what a bad time this plot bunny came to me. I started out all angsty, then a friend Skype called me and we talked while I wrote this story, then I lost steam 2/3 of the way through _but I wanted to finish it_, so tada, here it is. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

haplessgrapefrut


End file.
